Product Description

Phillis Wheatley was the first Black woman-poet published in America. Kidnapped and sold as a slave in Boston, her bright mental agility quickly became apparent. Her mistress had her educated, and as a teenager, Phillis began publishing poems to ever-increasing fame. Freed after a return trip from England, Phillis continued to write until her death, forever leaving a mark upon American literature.

The Candlewick Biographies series presents "portraits of people making history and shaping the future." Illustrated with beautiful full-color pictures, each book focuses on a turning point or defining moment in the life of an important individual in history, the sciences, or the world of art.

Publisher's Description

"Lasky shows not only the facts of Wheatley's life but also the pain of being an accomplished black woman in a segregated world." — BOOKLIST

"We’ll call her Phillis."

In 1761, a young African girl was sold to the Wheatley family in Boston, who named her Phillis after the slave schooner that had carried her. Kidnapped from her home in Africa and shipped to America, she’d had everything taken from her - her family, her name, and her language.

But Phillis Wheatley was no ordinary young girl. She had a passion to learn, and the Wheatleys encouraged her, breaking with unwritten rule in New England to keep slaves illiterate. Amid the tumult of the Revolutionary War, Phillis Wheatley became a poet and ultimately had a book of verse published, establishing herself as the first African American woman poet this country had ever known. She also found what had been taken away from her and from slaves everywhere: a voice of her own.

Author Bio

Kathryn Lasky is the author of many books for children, including SUGARING TIME, a Newbery Honor Book; SHOW AND TELL BUNNIES and SCIENCE FAIR BUNNIES; and VISION OF BEAUTY: THE STORY OF SARAH BREEDLOVE WALKER. Kathryn Lasky says she was drawn to Phillis Wheatley’s story because she was fascinated by the relationship between the writer’s voice, her identity as a slave, and freedom.

Paul Lee is a painter and freelance illustrator. He has illustrated the acclaimed AMISTAD RISING by Veronica Chambers, and THE GOOD LUCK CAT by Joy Harjo. While working on A VOICE OF HER OWN, Paul Lee had to do considerable research to make sure the illustrations were historically accurate - research that even entailed renting costumes from a local opera house.

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